Crane (NYSE:CR) Shares Gap Down – Should You Sell?

Crane (NYSE:CR)’s stock price gapped down prior to trading on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $209.77, but opened at $201.26. Crane shares last traded at $200.4350, with a volume of 117,295 shares changing hands.

Trending Headlines about Crane

Here are the key news stories impacting Crane this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Dividend raised 10.9% to $0.255 quarterly (annualized ~0.5% yield), signaling confidence in cash flow and returning capital to shareholders. (Ex-dividend Feb 27; pay Mar 11.)
• Positive Sentiment: Company highlighted strong Q4 performance, completed two acquisitions and announced a leadership transition — actions that support growth strategy and long-term operational plans. Business Wire: Q4 results and corporate actions
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported Q4 EPS $1.53 vs. $1.43 est and revenue $581M vs. $572M est — a clear beat that validates current profitability and margin gains. MarketBeat: Earnings details
• Neutral Sentiment: FY2026 guidance set to $6.55–6.75 EPS and revenue $2.8–2.9B — revenue guide is above consensus but the EPS range was viewed as mixed versus estimates, creating ambiguity around 2026 upside. Business Wire: Guidance
• Neutral Sentiment: Renewed market interest in industrial/tech names after tariff developments has drawn attention to Crane’s NXT (CXT) unit valuation; may influence investor sentiment longer term. Yahoo Finance: Valuation piece
• Negative Sentiment: Some investors reacted to management commentary and order trends — articles noted “sluggish orders” that tempered results and prompted after-hours selling pressure. That sentiment likely drove the intraday decline. MSN: After-hours dip / order commentary

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wolfe Research set a $215.00 target price on Crane and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Crane from $200.00 to $201.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. CJS Securities upgraded Crane to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. DA Davidson set a $235.00 price objective on Crane in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Crane in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $222.00.

Crane Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $10.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.22, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 1.18. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $191.14 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $188.66.

Crane (NYSE:CR) last announced its earnings results on Monday, January 26th. The conglomerate reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $581.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $572.16 million. Crane had a net margin of 13.10% and a return on equity of 24.45%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.38 earnings per share. Crane has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.550-6.75 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Crane will post 7.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Crane Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 27th will be paid a $0.255 dividend. This represents a $1.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. This is a boost from Crane’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 27th. Crane’s dividend payout ratio is currently 14.74%.

Institutional Trading of Crane

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CR. First Horizon Corp bought a new stake in shares of Crane in the third quarter worth about $26,000. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in Crane in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Assetmark Inc. boosted its position in shares of Crane by 57.9% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 180 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Crane in the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Kelleher Financial Advisors purchased a new stake in Crane during the third quarter valued at $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

About Crane

Crane Co, headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, is a diversified manufacturer of engineered industrial products serving customers around the world. The company operates through two primary segments: Aerospace & Electronics and Engineered Materials. Its Aerospace & Electronics division designs and produces valves, fittings, manifolds, and filtration systems for aircraft fuel, hydraulics, and environmental control systems. The Engineered Materials segment focuses on advanced polymers, heat exchangers, and specialized composite solutions for industries including chemical processing, semiconductor manufacturing, and power generation.

With roots dating back to its founding in 1855 in Chicago by R.T.